Movie review: Confusion at 'Dragon Gate'

Spoiler alert.

Watching international martial arts star Jet Li wield a Chinese Jian sword with the wind fluttering his clothes as he moves gracefully through the air may seem unusual to those unfamiliar with wuxia. It is a Chinese genre of film where the heroes, who come from working class backgrounds, are led by their chivalrous code and typically struggle against oppressive regimes. These mythical Chinese heroes are compelling to watch not only because of their strong principles but also because of their superhuman combat abilities.

Flying Swords of Dragon Gate is a remake by Director Tsui Hark that has some highly imaginative visuals, finely choreographed martial arts sequences and nice 3D effects. The film features entertaining swordplay and high flying action. It is set in dusty locales with plenty of action sequences involving horse-riding, which give the film an almost Chinese-Western sort of appeal. Regrettably Jet, who plays Zhao Huai’an, is a little too old for action movies now and has many of his action scenes performed by doubles, playing less of his traditional butt-kicking role. That being said, here he gives a strong performance which once again contrasts with his poor choice of roles in Hollywood.

The film is set during the Ming Dynasty where the imperial eunuchs are attempting to gather strength by attempting to side with either the East or West Bureaus. These are powerful intelligence organisations that oppress the weak in order to stay in power. The story begins when Zhao Huai’an and his group of outlaw swordsmen foil an assassination attempt by Wan Yulou (Gordon Liu), a hit man for the East Bureau, on the Minister of Five Armies. At this point a maid of the palace, Su Huirong (Mavis Fan), escapes after it is discovered that she is pregnant, leading a jealous palace consort to order her assassination. Yu Huatian (Aloys Chen), who leads the West Bureau, uses the assassination orders on Su as a pretext to attack Zhao’s men. Ultimately many other characters become part of the story, as things finally culminate at the magical Dragon Inn, which is supposedly at the site of a buried lost city said to have unimaginable treasure.

Although Flying Swords of Dragon Gate flies high, especially in the final 30 minutes, it doesn’t quite soar to the dizzying heights of great wuxia films such as Hero (2002) or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000).

Unfortunately, the plot in the film can be hard to follow with its overabundance of main characters and most of them are given little or no attention by the narrative. In fact with the ensemble cast and the oddly paced narrative, watching Flying Swords of Dragon Gate is somewhat akin to blindly tuning into the final episodes of an ongoing TV series.

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, October 21^st, 2012.

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